Our current research is focused on understanding the role of new lipids in vascular inflammation including cardiovascular disease, dementia and wound healing. Some lipids we discovered are being developed as the basis of new treatments for bleeding excess. Other lipids we showed are anti-inflammatory are being developed as treatments for vascular inflammation, licensed to Complexa Inc, and with a $62M Series C funding investment in 2016 (https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/910011-turning-lipids-research-into-new-drugs)

Since 2007 my group have discovered large numbers of lipids made by human platelets, neutrophils and monocytes, via the lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase pathways. We have shown that these lipids can innate immunity including promoting blood clotting, immune signaling and antibacterial activities of leukocytes. They belong to families of enzymatically oxidized phospholipids (eoxPL), and their elevated generation is found in human thrombotic disease, while their deficiency leads to bleeding defects and protection against vascular inflammation. This work is done in collaboration with Prof Peter Collins and Dr Vince Jenkins (UHW).

On arriving in Cardiff, I defined with my colleagues how lipid oxidation mediated by vascular enzymes can control blood pressure both in vitro and in vivo. Main findings include showing how cellular lipoxygenases and cyclooxygenases catalytically consume nitric oxide resulting in vasoconstriction and how neutrophils patrol the vasculature maintaining blood pressure through dampening bacterial-induced inflammation.

While based at University of Alabama at Birmingham I worked with the Freeman lab to characterisedhow nitric oxide and lipid oxidation pathways intersect (published in JBC, Biochemistry), defining new biochemical routes to nitrolipid synthesis, and showing these lipids have potent anti-inflammatory actions. These studies contributed to a patent which is licenced to Complexa Inc and the lipids are now in Phase II trials for vascular inflammation.

I studied at University of Berne, Switzerland on a Marie Curie Fellowship (1994-1996). I defined mechanisms of mitochondrial free radical generation. My PhD at University of Bristol (1990-1993) was focused on characterising the enzymatic action of iodonium compounds as flavoenzyme inhibitors that were in development as anti-inflammatory agents. I found that these are turnover dependent, irreversible inhibitors that form covalent adducts with flavin co-factors. These inhibitors represent some of the most widely used NADPH oxidase inhibitors still used today.